As some of you know. On my way to the hill for sundays race at FSW III while at Glamis my tranny locked up. I finally got her opened up and one of my shift forks had snapped. Broken Shift Fork When I showed it to my brother he was very surprised to see that the shift forks in an 01 DS are very thin. Thinner than the ones in his 01 raptor. I ordered the 03 forks this time. I hope they are better then the 01 forks. Even though the 01 raptors have tranny issues it must not be because of the shift forks[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img]

 

Yes, I've replace a few sets. The new shift forks are fine - they are not silver in color - the new ones are black - they are much stronger.

 

is this a common problem with the ds650? i am thinking about buying an 03 ds650 and im just curious.

thanks
jeff

 

Other than Ironrod having problems with the shift forks, eagle is the only other person that I have heard of.

 

Yes, I was surprised to see how thin it was. I'll bring one of the Raptors shift forks to Dumont this weekend to compare. I have a few laying around in the large bag of bolts laying around. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img] Soon to get larger when I replace the 01 tranny in the blue Raptor in a few weeks. Hope it makes it through Dumont and the desert a couple weeks after that before going all the way out.

 

Larry, are you just using the manual to guide you thru this process? Please document your experience and keep us updated...I may need to lean on you a little in the near future. Thanks.

Jim

 

'O3 has the new forks - you should be fine.

 

Jeffinrivercity had problems as well. There were several others which I can think of off had. Before they came up with the new ones, Jeff found a creative way to strengthen the old ones by deep freezing them - cryogenic process; I dont know if that helped or not.

 

Broken shift forks are not a common problem on the DS. Eaglecollector has ridden the heck out of his quad. He also drag races like there is no tommorrow. I would bet he has well over 300 hrs on it. Maybe more.

 

You're right, the general problem with shift forks with the '00 and the '01 were all problems with the forks bending. This is the first time I've heard of one breaking altogether. I can only recall Don Knetzger, Jeffinrivercity and myself with those problems (maybe one or two more). I wouldn't classify this problem as a huge one, for a lot of users - as it tends to be those that ride/drag a lot - I used to ride every weekend for at least two years! However, its just one more thing to think about checking if you're gears are snapping and you cant hook up and the chain tension and the rear bearing carrier checks out fine. Again, only early models produced between 2000 and 2002.